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Re: Yak-11 race 92

Dusty relayed to me that the Bearcats are now Texas Flying Legends and Ezell is working on them. The first will likely be finished pretty soon and they're both supposed to be the BEST bearcat restorations ever done. The same will be with Polar Bear, if you like restorations like Berlin Express, Polar Bear will exceed the quality of that restoration

Re: Yak-11 race 92

Originally Posted by GRNDP51

Dusty relayed to me that the Bearcats are now Texas Flying Legends and Ezell is working on them. The first will likely be finished pretty soon and they're both supposed to be the BEST bearcat restorations ever done. The same will be with Polar Bear, if you like restorations like Berlin Express, Polar Bear will exceed the quality of that restoration

If anyone saw the Reno 2016 poster that I did that was on display on the Voodoo trailer during the week, the cartoon of Dusty's Yak said something to the effect of "If you squint your eyes hard enough it kind of LOOKS like a racing Bearcat...."

Re: Yak-11 race 92

I don't really know. My first thought was that it looks lower, and prominently has a single piece curved windscreen, which I did not remember. In looking at this excellent website, however, http://www.yakuk.com/yak-11-flight-test/ it seems like each canopy is different. I guess we'll have to ask Dusty when he returns.

Re: Yak-11 race 92

HI GUYS......
SPRAYING HAS SLOWED DOWN A TAD, SO THOUGHT I'D TRY TO ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS ON THIS THREAD, SO MADE A LIST AND WILL HAVE A RUN AT IT.........
THERE WERE SOME VERY HUMBLING COMMENTS ABOUT MY "ROOTS IN RACING" ...... I WENT TO MY FIRST RACE IN FULTON, NY IN 1958 WITH MY UNCLE, BILL FALCK, AND "RIVETS" . THERE WAS A TERRIBLE HANGAR FIRE AT WARWICK AIRPORT THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS OF 1957, AND FULTON WAS THE FIRST POST-FIRE SHOWING. BECAUSE OF MY AGE AND SIZE, UNCLE WILLIE INSTRUCTED ME AT BUCKING RIVETS AND I REMEMBER BEING SENT DOWN THE NARROWING FUSELAGE TO BUCK THE RIVETS ON THE METALIZED VERTICAL FIN. SO, YOU COULD SAY THAT I GREW UP WITH "RIVETS" AND HELPED WORK ON IT AND LEARN FROM MY UNCLE THE IDEA THAT DETAILS MAKE THE MACHINE FASTER. TO FAST FORWARD A FEW YEARS......I GUESS IT WAS IN THE SUMMER OF 1970, WILLIE WANTED ME TO FLY RIVETS. IT WAS SET UP FOR ME TO FLY NICK JONES' "MOTHER HOLIDAY" AND JOHNNY THOMSONS' "SNOOPY", BOTH CASSUTTS, AT A WILSON NC RACE, BUT THAT ALL WENT AWRY AND SO THE VERY FIRST EXPERIMENTAL AIRPLANE I EVER FLEW WAS "RIVETS". I HAVE A VIDEO OF THE FLIGHT AND THE EARLY "P.I.0." THAT I EXPERIENCED ON TAKEOFF. IT WAS A FAR CRY FROM FLYING THE CUB DUSTER THAT I HAD MOST OF MY TIME IN, AND ALTHOUGH I GOT IT DOWN OK, IT WAS A FAR CRY FROM A TEXTBOOK FLIGHT. HAD I THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO IT OVER AGAIN, I'D DEFINITELY OPT FOR THE CASSUTT FIRST....
THE ONLY OTHER PEOPLE TO EVER FLY "RIVETS" WERE CASSUTT AND WITTMAN. WITT CAME TO KANSAS IN 1976 AND LET ME FLY HIS OLDS-POWERED TAILWIND. WHILE HE WAS HERE, HE AND DOROTHY WATCHED THE VIDEO OF MY FLIGHT AND WITT TOLD ME THAT IT WAS THE WORST FLYING AIRPLANE HE'D EVER FLOWN AND AFTER FLYING IT, HE COULDN'T IMAGINE HOW WILLIE FLEW IT IN RACING. I, APPARENTLY, "ESCAPED WID ME LOIF".....
I ALSO HAD THE BENEFIT OF BEING AROUND TOM CASSUTT WHEN I WAS GROWING UP AS HE SPENT A LOT OF TIME AT WARWICK WITH MY UNCLE. HE TAUGHT ME THE IMPORTANCE OF A "WATER TIGHT" BAFFLE SYSTEM AND THE IMPORTANCE OF WORKING FOR SPEED FROM THE SPINNER AFT, AERODYNAMICALLY. TOM SAID THAT "RIVETS" HAD THE CLOSEST THING TO A "ZERO COOLING DRAG" THAT COULD BE ACCOMPLISHED ALSO, TOM AND STEVE WITTMAN BOTH TAUGHT ME THE IMPORTANCE OF REMOVING ANY EXCESS WEIGHT OFF THE MACHINE, WHICH I GET LAUGHED AT TODAY BY MY CREW SOMETIMES, BUT I LOVE TO MAKE THINGS LIGHT......
SO, WHEN WILLIE AND "RIVETS" WENT IN THE LAKE AT CLEVELAND IN 1977, I HAD BOUGHT A CASSUTT AND STARTED MODIFYING IT, MY PRIMARY GOAL BEING TO RACE WITH MY UNCLE. THAT BEING IMPOSSIBLE, I TOOK A COUPLE YEARS TO GET IT READY TO RACE AND QUALIFIED IT AT CLEVELAND IN 1979, FIFTY YEARS AFTER THE FIRST CLEVELAND AIR RACE. MY SPEED WAS 216 SOMETHING THEN AND BY 1982-3-ISH I BROKE THE QUALIFIYING RECORD AT RENO WITH 235-SOMETHING AND HELD IT FOR ONE DAY. ANYWAY, THE SPEED INCREASE WAS ALL DONE WITH COOLING DRAG AND "CROPDUSTER" AERODYNAMICS RATHER THAN ENGINE WORK. SOME OF THE GUYS I WAS RACING AGAINST WERE SPENDING MORE MONEY ON THEIR CUSTOM CAMSHAFTS THAN I WAS ON THE WHOLE ENGINE.
ANYWAY, ENOUGH RAMBLING ABOUT THE PAST, BUT MAYBE WHEN I QUIT THE UNLIMITED, I'LL REBUILD "ILLUSION" AND SEE IF I CAN GET BACK UP TO 3RD IN THE GOLD AGAOM
MORE YAK STUFF TOMORROW NIGHT.......STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT BORING MISSLE.....
REGARDS, DUSTY